kelly1214

Kendall- we should do dinner sometime and you can pick my brain about everything. Good luck with the wedding planning ladies! I hope my review helped.

I used my own script... Rev Howell was wonderful though and I don't think I would've needed too. They had some stuff you could pick from but i'm picky and wanted certain scripture and the Irish Wedding Blessing read... So I brought the whole ceremony written out and he read it almost word for word. He minor stuff here and there but it was very approperiate and he was wonderful. You don't have any worries if you write it out.

I heard of one person who wanted to lose a lot of weight start a lawn mowing business. He would mow a lawn every night as his 'exercise'. Plus the couple extra bucks a week didn't hurt. Personally I walk my dog. Having a set time every night helps too. Brutus knows when it's time to go on his walk and he'll stare at me and wine until I get my shoes on. Taking a class with someone (do something fun like tap dancing or zumba) is a great way to destress, socialize and work off those couple extra lbs you want to loose. It also guilts you into going... knowing you left the other person hanging can be a real motivator. Also, I lost a lot of weight in the water... water aerobics and swimming are excellent for decreasing your body fat and depending what stroke you do, can really make your arms look good! Remember though- it's not about how much you exercise if everything else isn't in check. You have to eat right, get enough sleep, etc... Good luck ladies!!!

jenn, i know how you feel. I'm in the same boat except it's my mom that keeps pushing. I've told her many times I don't want anything and i finally gave in after her endless nagging. I wish I wouldn't have. I just want to cry everytime she asks me about it. We already have alot of issues. So I feel if I told her no and insisted on it, it would completely distroy our relationship. You're not alone.

Quote: Originally Posted by hockeymom97 I also want to bring my own set to use for the sand cermony, but I think charging $50 is ridiculous! All they have to do is place the containers on the table...it's crazy. They made us pay $100!!! I was almost 100% sure they told us it would be $50 if we brought our own to set up but they charged us $100. When we questioned, they said the fee was $100 regardless. I didn't have anything in writing though saying they would only charge us $50. Get everything in writing on what they will charge you...

We went with a Luxury Honeymoon Jr Suite. We liked it a lot. My husband really like the minibar in the room. We could see the ocean a little bit through the trees from our room- #314. The concierge service was okay, we did a concierge snorkling trip and a concierge cruise. I was indifferent on the snorkling trip- you can sign up for one of those yourself at the snorkling shop. The cruise was really nice, they take you out around the bay for about an hour. You get drinks and snacks. Definitely glad we signed up for that. My advice on the part of the village you stay in- who cares? You aren't in your room very often and the resort is small enough that you can walk from one part of the resort to the other in 10 minutes. Go with the cheaper one!

bug spray- the bugs were only bad at night... and they only bit me, not my husband.

We gave our documents to our travel agent and she had them sent.

Other stuff- If the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign isn’t up on your door, the staff will come in. They’ll knock first but not wait for an answer. So save yourself some embarrassment, use it. Before you go, sit down with your fiancée and decide what you two expect of the trip as far as spending time with family/friends and each other. Make sure you communicate that with your guests. Use bug spray. We counted 38 bug bites on my legs at one point. There you go… PM me if you have any questions.

Photography- This was the biggest disappointment and also the best part (besides getting married) of the trip. We used the resort photographers for the ceremony because third party companies are not allowed on resort. We met our photographer on Tuesday during the meeting with the WC. We told her that we wanted her to do photographs of the ceremony and reception. We were going to do trash the dress photos with Brilliant by Tropical Imaging (review to follow) three days after the wedding. We had to purchase a small package to ensure that she would be there the entire time. She seemed to be a little annoyed that we were using TI. Looking back, I wouldn’t have told her we were doing TI. Day of the wedding- The photographer called around 3:45 and asked if I was ready for her. I didn’t have any bridesmaids and only wanted a couple pictures in the room. So I didn’t need her to be there very early. I told her that since it was delayed due to rain, I would give her a call back when Patricia said she was coming up for me. When Patricia called, I call the photographer right away. Patricia showed up to my room 5 minutes later. The photographer called about 5 minutes after that saying she was on her way- she went to the wrong part of the resort? She got there about 10 minutes after Patricia arrived. I was a little annoyed that we had to wait for her. The rain delayed things long enough; I wanted to get the show on the road! The photographer was rude during the family photos. She kept yelling at the men to put their hands in their pocket s for the photos. I think she was annoyed because my family took photos of us while she was. She kept yelling at us to look at her and tried to get us to switch poses quickly so that our families couldn’t take the same poses she did. Looking back, she wasn’t the rudest person I ever had to deal with. But compared to the rest of the Beaches employees, she was rude. Her photos were okay. We ended up purchasing 13 of them. We had to purchase the group picture on CD ($20 extra) because their editing equipment couldn’t print the image correctly. The images couldn’t be resized and the 8 X10 size cut my sister out of the picture. The 5x7 was better but we wanted it larger. So we purchased it on CD and are going to print it at home. My photos are still online until the middle of June. Send me a PM with your email address if you want me to email you the link. Advice for future brides: purchase a small package (the 8x10 package) and purchase whatever else you want separately when you get home online. Brilliant by Tropical Imaging- we did ‘trash the dress’ photos with them 3 days after the wedding. Words can’t describe how much fun I had and how thrill I am with the photos. A small portion of them are listed on their website: http://www.brilliant.tc/2010/05/red-cross/ David did a wonderful job. Besides the pictures being breathtakingly amazing, it was so much fun to get off of the Beaches property and see the private parts of the island. Sterling’s not very photogenic but he looks so cute in the pictures and David really brought out the fun side of him. I’ll definitely cherish the photos for years and years to come. Hands down, it was one of the best parts of the trip. I 100% without any hesitation would recommend using Brilliant by Tropical Imaging to anyone wanting pictures taken in Turks and Caicos.

I wrote the ceremony out because one of the women I work with got married in Jamaica last year and she said she was disappointed because her pastor didn’t elaborate on the things she requested. We had Pastor Howell. He was very nice and did a great job. We brought our own sand ceremony because we didn’t like the one they had pictured in the catalogue but turns out when we got down there, they had the exact same one as we did. Add to Cart They charged us $100 for the set up fee for that. I thought I had been told $50 before but I guess I was wrong. We got married on the beach by Schooners. It was a very nice location for the time of day. That can be a busy part of the beach during certain hours but at 5, it wasn’t busy and we were pretty much left alone. We did the 30 minute reception afterwards in one of the gazebos. Sterling and I and two guests were included in the wedding package, we had to pay for 11 adult, 1 child, (2 year old was free). We also paid $100 for an extra table to be set up. We chose the rum cake for the top layer and vanilla layer for the bottom. The rum cake was delicious! We also did the first dance, father/daughter dance, and mother/son dance at the reception. We had plenty of time to do everything. The 30 minute time limit is only for the servers. They leave after 30 minutes. You can stay there for longer than that. As a gift at the wedding, we gave our guests small candy jars that we had printed with “Sterling and Kelly May 14, 2010 Turks and Caicos” and a small picture of a palm tree on it. We filled them with sand from the island. We decided to go to Barefoot by the Sea for dinner after our reception. It wasn’t hard to get us all seated together. We had two tables right beside each other. Video- we did the $300 raw footage DVD. They did a good job.

Wedding planning- Sterling and I booked the end of August for our May 14th wedding. Nicole Gridley from Liberty Travel in Harrisburg, PA was our travel agent. She was wonderful. I really recommend working with a travel agent. She got answers faster and with more clarity than I did. We invited immediate family to join us for the wedding. There were 17 of us total- 15 adults, a 6 year old and a two year old. We had Monica for our wedding coordinator in Miami. I was very frustrated with her. My husband had requested to get another coordinator because of the lack of communication with us and the fact she called me the wrong name! But we were told we couldn’t because she was the only one for that resort. After our phone call a couple weeks before the wedding, we decided to wait until we got to Turks and Caicos to make the final decisions on anything. OOT bags- I got gift bags from the dollar store in them I put: canvas bags that said “Turks and Caicos May 2010” and had a picture of an island scene for the ladies- Chrissy (Girasole) lives really close to me and she sold me her extra bags. For the guys we got conch shells from the island. Sterling wanted to get them beer mugs that said ‘Turks and Caicos’ but we couldn’t find anything down there. I also included tide- to- go, bug spray, suntan lotion, and hand sanitizer. For the two girls, I went to the dollar store and got a pail and shovel, sand molds, beach ball and inner tube. They loved the inner tubes. Patricia was our wedding coordinator at the resort. She was wonderful. She has a great attitude and is very helpful. She kept us laughing. We went with the beautiful beginnings package. I brought my own flowers. I took Meaghan’s idea and went with clay flowers from Etsy’s: Etsy :: Clay Rose Wedding Bouquet, Custom Made for Kelly I absolutely love them. They made it there okay. I got a massage, a manicure and pedicure the morning of our wedding. The massage was very relaxing and wonderful. The mani/pedi were good. I’ve had better, but I’ve also had worse. The polish lasted a long time. It’s been two weeks since the wedding and the polish is just starting to chip off. Our wedding time was supposed to be 4 pm. Around 2:45 it started raining which pushed the 3 pm wedding back and in turn ours too. It wasn’t a big deal though. I was surprisingly calm. Our ceremony started about 5 pm.

First, can I say how thankful I am for this website?!?! I would’ve lost my mind if it wasn’t for the other brides on here. My sincerest appreciation goes out to all of you. The Resort- while reading this you have to remember that I don’t travel very much. I don’t have many travel experiences to compare it to and this was my first all inclusive resort. Customs and Check-in was very hectic because two planes had landed back-to-back so there were tons of people in the lobby of the airport and at the resort. It took about an hour and a half from the time we landed to get into our room. The resort was a little confusing to understand based on the maps. Go on a tour (9 am and 4 pm daily). It’s easier to get around after that. The grounds itself were beautiful- the flowers are wonderful, the beach is well kept, everything very clean. Our room #314, a Jr Honeymoon Suite, was very nice. The décor was wonderful, loved that there was plenty of space to relax. Sterling loved the mini-bar in our room. One negative was that we had ants in the bathroom but that was kind of our fault. Sterling poured a drink down the sink and didn’t rinse the sink out. The food was pretty good. I think someone else said it on here that almost everything was good but there wasn’t too much that I needed to have again, except the mixed potato soup at Sapodilla’s. It’s not on the menu but ask for it. It was awesome! I really enjoyed trying foods I normally wouldn’t eat in the States like ostrich. Barefoot was probably my favorite restaurant. Service was a little slow but I’m used to the hectic USA way of life where I always am eating on the run. It took me a little while to get used to just leaving after I was done eating too. No waiting for a check! I don’t really care for swimming so we didn’t go to too many of the pools. We spent most of our time on the beach. The sand and ocean were one of my favorite parts of the trip. They were wonderful! Some times of the day were pretty crowded on the beach but we could always find chairs under an umbrella.

TA Jennifer- email me your address and I'll send you the link to the pictures from the resort. They are still availble online for another couple of weeks (middle of June they will be taken off). I'll email you some from my family members too. Thanks, Kelly

To clarify my above post- I used Beaches photographers for my wedding (required) and Tropical Imaging for trash the dress pictures off resort a couple days after the wedding. Beaches- mediocre Tropical Imaging- AMAZING!!!

my main issues- 1. lack of communication before the wedding. A full price list explaining all the fees and options for our wedding would've been nice. I know the Martha Stewart stuff changed a lot of it but it was a huge frustration not knowing what was included and what wasn't and what I'd have to pay extra for. I feel like my wedding coordinator didn't care to volunteer information to us, we had to pull everything out of her... 2. The wedding coordinator in Miami. She was very hard to get a straight answer out of. Things she said didn't make sense and pretty much made me not trust a word that came out of her mouth. I felt like she just wanted to make money off of me, not help me plan the 'carefree wedding' as described. 3. The photography as stated by the other brides. There is a HUGE lack of communication on what is available for us to purchase and what the costs are. The only information presented in the welcome kits is regarding packages, nothing regarding prices to individually purchase pictures, nothing about purchasing the photographs individually on a CD. I feel like the resort took advantage of us when it comes to the photography. The quality of the photographer we had was mediocre too. My family's photographs were as good if not better than hers. She also was late in getting to my room (we actually had to wait for her to get there so I could go to my ceremony). She was rude to my guests too which really ticked me off. Hands down my biggest disappointment from my wedding with my experience with the photographers and photoshop people. Momx2- good luck with getting outside venders in. Our photographer from tropical imaging said the security office gave him a really hard time getting in and he didn't even have his camera!

I did Beaches and Tropcial Imaging. The resort photos were okay. Their customer service was poor- they didn't explain all the costs/fees and the photographer was late and rude to my family. Anyway... I wanted pictures of the wedding and didn't want to have to rely on family members to have to take them. PM me if you want all the details. If you want to see the photos Beaches took of the wedding, PM me your email address and I'll send you the links. David from TI was amazing!!! I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed our photo shoot. My husband and I met through the American Red Cross and David took us to T&C's Red Cross to get some pictures there which definitely was great and added a special touch to our shoot. He also took us to a very private part of the island. It was amazing. The sand at Beaches wasn't anything compare to this place. It was so white and pure, no footprints (except from a bird ) It was amazing. I can't wait to get our pictures!!

I got married at the Beaches Turks and Caicos resort on a Friday at 4 pm. I too was very concerned about complete strangers inviting themselves to watch my wedding. I almost changed our location because I was that concerned. But we staked our area a couple days before and it wasn't that busy. The wedding coordinator was very good at directing people around us and clearing the area of extra beach chairs and boats etc. I think it really depends on what time of the day you choose. I can't speak for the other resorts but during certian times of the day the beach was less full and offer more privacy.

LOVE the dresses! Why didn't I ever get a cool dress like that when I was a BM?

We're getting married in Beaches Turks and Caicos next month and having 17 people total. We're doing a dinner at one of the restuarants. We were considering doing a private reception but I wanted to give my family the options of picking their own food.

Quote: Originally Posted by Julie H Hi! Have you seen the Finishing Touches? They were supposed to have an additional flower section a long time ago. It's been interesting... They have pictures of the cupcakes and they are listed at $36 a dozen. I do know if you have a group wedding they will comp you the $15 dollar a person towards a longer reception. Were having the 3hr and paying $60 a person instead of the listed $75. I've found they will do anything for price we've just picked the things most important to us. Pretty sure they won't comp you the $15 for the $75 reception.

Quote: Originally Posted by JennLizFran So I just had my first contact with my Miami WC and I am doing the Beautiful Beginnings package. I want to add-on cupcakes, and she told me that they are not available as an add-on to that package?!? Anyone else getting cupcakes in this package? I figure in the end if she tells me no I'll just try again once I get there! You could try when you get down there. The WC in Miami seem very by the book and no room for exceptions. I've heard a lot of good stuff about the WC on the resort. They seem very very flexible and want you to be happy. Example: I was wondering if I could do the first dance and father daughter dance at the 30 minute reception. The WC in Miami said if I wanted to do that, I'd have to go with the 1 hr reception and pay for a DJ. I talked to another bride who got married in January at Beaches Turks and Caicos and she did exactly what I want to do. I want a 30 minute reception and to give them the CD of songs I wanted played for the dances. She didn't hire a DJ and she said she wasn't rushed. They let her stay over 30 mintes. WC in Miami says one thing but the WC in Turks lets you do another...

I'm getting married in Turks and Caicos and flowers are super expensive so I'm going with clay flowers I bought off of estys: Etsy :: Clay Rose Wedding Bouquet, Custom Made for Kelly $125 and they are mine forever

I'm just taking a sand cermony set with me for the cermony. Girasole says they told her they will charge you $50 to set up your own if you don't use theirs. For the 'reception' we're just picking a resturant when we get down there that we want to eat at after the wedding. Paying $75 per person when you're already at an AI is rediculus! I'm bringing small glass jars with our names, the date and "Turks and Caicos" engraved on them. We're going to fill them with sand from the island. We're considering this the party favor at the reception. We're also giving our guest welcome bags when they get there. We're having us call them and we'll meet them at their room instead of having the resort drop them off... saves us a couple bucks. Kendall- Where in PA do you live? I live in Harrisburg. If you want to get together after my wedding, i can give you all the helpful hints you might need